The aim of this application is to obtain financial support for the 2004 Keystone Symposium on stem cells. Stem cell research is of major importance for the development of therapies to treat diverse human diseases in which there is a failure of tissue repair or a need to replace damaged or genetically altered cells. Two examples of current clinical applications of adult stem cells are in the grafting of bums victims with autologous cultured epidermis and in bone marrow transplantation to treat leukemia patients. In the long term improved cell-based treatments of neurological disorders such as Parkinson's would be highly beneficial; however the use of cells derived from fetal and embryonic material is fraught with ethical and legal issues that need to be addressed. The goal of the meeting is to bring together scientists from around the world, from academia and industry, from the clinic and the laboratory to present current progress in stem cell research. The program is designed to cover the most exciting and controversial current research issues, such as adult stem cell plasticity, clinical applications of stem cells and human ES ceils. The keynote address will cover the ethics of stem cell research from the perspective of treatments for infertility and current media interest in human cloning.